"British rules of engagement "are very much de-escalatory, because we don't want wars starting,"
Yeah, that always works.
Posted on 03/27/2007 10:15:49 AM PDT by westcoastwillieg
That noise you hear as you pass the crypt at St. Paul's cathedral in London is Lord Horatio Nelson spinning in his grave.
Admiral Nelson was the greatest seaman of a seafaring nation which has produced many. If he had been in command of the HMS Cornwall in the Persian Gulf last Friday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair would not now be begging the mullahs in Tehran for the release of his illegally seized sailors and marines.
"No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy," Lord Nelson said.
Lord Nelson, alas, was killed at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The captain of the HMS Cornwall is Commodore Nick Lambert, a more modern sort. He did nothing as six Iranian speedboats seized the boarding party from his ship as they were leaving the freighter they had inspected in Iraqi territorial waters.
The 14 men and one woman have been taken to Tehran, where the mullahs are threatening to try them as spies.
U.S. Navy Lt. Commander Erik Horner, executive officer of the USS Underwood, which shares patrol duty in the Shatt al Arab with the HMS Cornwall, expressed surprise that the British let their sailors and marines be taken without a fight.p> "U.S. Navy rules of engagement say we not only have a right to self defense, but also an obligation to self defense," LtCdr Horner told the British newspaper the Independent. "Our reaction was 'Why didn't your guys defend themselves?'"
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
More to the story...
"No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy," - Lord Nelson
''Run away! Run away!'' - Commodore Nick Lambert,
Lord Nelson, whom I have no doubt is spinning, also said:
"Gentlemen, when the enemy is committed to a mistake we must not interrupt him too soon."
And, "Never break the neutrality of a port or place, but never consider as neutral any place from whence an attack is allowed to be made."
No one wants to start a shooting war with Iran......at least until all the pieces are in place.
"British rules of engagement "are very much de-escalatory, because we don't want wars starting," the former First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Alan West, told the BBC."
These rules should be updated so that they apply the real world in which we live, and not some bizarre PC alternate universe created in the minds of officious, arguably unhinged British bureaucrats.
Forget the Art of War, read Nelson!
Like we did on the USS Cole?
I used to change my tagline, every so often, but this one has stayed since it is so applicable in so many instances.
Here the British, were so handcuffed by political correctness, that they allowed their sailors to be captured with out a fight.
"What would Lord Nelson do?"
get pickled in brandy and have the crew tap the admiral on the boatride home?
a better question would be, what would Britain's beloved 'Iron Lady' do. I dont think there is any question what Mrs. Thatcher would do.
"Give them a taste of The Grape."
No comparison.
"British rules of engagement "are very much de-escalatory, because we don't want wars starting,"
Yeah, that always works.
"If a man consults whether he is to fight, when he has the power in his own hands, it is certain that his opinion is against fighting." Lord Nelson
Yesterday, the former First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Alan West, said British rules of engagement were "very much de-escalatory, because we don't want wars starting ... Rather than roaring into action and sinking everything in sight we try to step back and that, of course, is why our chaps were, in effect, able to be captured and taken away."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2393337.ece
Send in Jack Aubrey, of course!
Commodore Lambert had his orders, and he followed them. Blame the men up the chain of command who gave him the orders, which ultimately means blame Tony Blair.
True. The men on the Cole were killed.
"Like we did on the USS Cole?"
The officers on the Cole were so distracted by preparing for an upcoming inspection that they failed to realize that the missile that their radar was tracking was about to hit them. Inexcusable, but not an ROE issue.
Sea captains had a heckuva lot more latitude prior to satellite communications -- or at least radio. They were the 'Law' & frequently decided situations like this on the spot. Governments could only confirm or disavow those actions much later.
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